Monday, April 30, 2012

It's All Fun and Games Until...

 ...someone gets hurt.  Rocky and Daisy were being treated to a super fun ride in the bike trailer and they got dumped.  They earned matching road rash which was pretty traumatic at first, but grew into a great way for them to get attention for themselves.  After it stopped stinging they seemed proud of their war-wounds.

And now for something completely different.

Brandon made this Spanish meal for us on Friday and it looked as awesome as it tasted.  Moros y Cristianos is part of a traditional celebration that takes place around this time each year.  Technically the rice is supposed to be more white (i.e. the Christians) as it surrounds the Moors before kicking them out during the Inquisition.  Apparently being politically correct still isn't big on Spain's list of to-dos. 
 While the population of Eugene swings the completely opposite direction when it comes to cultural sensitivity, in the end the palette wins at the Rigby home and I hope that this form of beans and rice becomes a permanent staple.

And once again it was marathon time.  I love the Eugene marathon and the way this town feels all weekend.  I couldn't coax Rocky out of bed but Daisy braved the early morning in her footie p.j.s to cheer on the runners.  We were too late for the beginning but we caught them at around mile 9.  I, as always, had to get a blubbery and tear up.  I can't blame this on pregnancy this time because my eyes always get all watery when watching marathons.  This time the thing that really hit me was how excited the spectators get when the person they are cheering on passes.  There they are all standing along the road with looks of anticipation, scanning the faces of the thousands of runners, looking for someone that is special to them.  And when they finally see that one they jump and cheer and then you see the big smile of some poor exhausted person who has a new spring in his step.  It just made me think of the whole worth of souls idea, that each one of those runners is extremely valuable and inspiring to the people in his or her life.  
It also made me think about how nice it is to have the support of friends and family, especially when you are feeling worn out.
This is the kind of sentimentality that long races bring out in me.

By the way, the reason I have been able to write so much this morning is that Brandon got called in to perform his civic responsibility and serve jury duty.  It was a bummer for him, but he left the computer so his loss has turned out to be my gain.  But, alas, Sesame Street is over and I've got to get back to that whole parenting thing that I'm supposed to be doing. 

3 comments:

Jennifer Lovell said...

I had never thought of what an uplifting experience it could be to cheer on runners in a race like that, and to watch their loved ones cheer them on. That really touched me.

The dinner looks delicious!

I hope the bruises and scabs heal quickly--that looks painful.

I hope your pregnancy is going great!

Laurie said...

Every time that I run by that spot towards the end of the marathon where you and your girls were all dressed up with your great sign it makes me so happy. Glad you got to enjoy cheering on some runners again this year.

That rice and beans does look pretty tasty... despite its politically incorrectness. :)

becky rigby said...

Caleb was so distraught when he saw the picture. He knows the girls were fine but he was more concerned about poor Brandon. I guess Rocky hasn’t been helping his guilty conscience either. =) You can pretty much guarantee we’ll have a similar situation within the first few months of us having a child. So we’ll make sure to bond of our experiences.